BU Now » influenza H1N1http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow
News, information and research from Boston UniversityWed, 21 Sep 2011 18:14:24 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Don’t confuse swine flu spread with its severityhttp://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/05/20/dont-confuse-swine-flu-spread-with-its-severity/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/05/20/dont-confuse-swine-flu-spread-with-its-severity/#commentsWed, 20 May 2009 14:15:37 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=365Each person infected with Influenza A (H1N1) will infect between 2.2 and 3.1 others — a “reproduction ratio” European researchers say is historically similar to other influenza pandemics. Alexander Ozonoff, professor of biostatistics, stresses the spread of the flu virus is separate from its severity.

“On general virological principles we would expect that transmissibility correlates negatively with severity. There are selective pressures that tend to push the virus in that direction, although it is not clear how often this holds with pandemic influenza.”